Page 100 of Cloudless
It’s not like I have a good example to look back on for things like this. My mom and dad let us figure out everything for ourselves. That resulted in me never feeling like I knew how to handle situations on my own.
What would Lila say?
Then it clicks. “Well, did I say anything mean to Miss Emma and Molly?”
He straightens in his seat. “No.”
My voice rings with certainty I’m not sure I feel. “Well, that means I was still being nice, right?”
A smile takes over his face that is nearly blinding in the rearview mirror. “Right!”
I relax into my seat, feeling like I just won the lottery. I replay my words over in my head, just hoping I’ve said the right thing as another thought pops into my head. “But you can always tell me or Lila when you don’t like someone, okay?”
A surprising flash of hope enters his eyes. “I can?”
His blue eyes search mine in the mirror as we approach their house. “Of course you can, Tank.”
He nods as his eyes move to look out the window. His shoulders deflate and a calmness takes over his face.
Please let that be the right thing to say.
CHAPTER 47
HAPPY OR SAD
LILA
I groan as I straighten from my position on the floor. “I know I brought them in the house. It’s not like a package of paper plates can just get up and walk away.” Items shift and fall in the cabinet as I close the door.That’s a later problem.
Ellie’s head disappears into the cabinet across from me, where she digs through our pots and pans. “How would you know?”
A crease forms between my brows as my footsteps stall in the middle of the kitchen. “Ummm, because I’ve never seen one get up and walk around. Have you?”
She blows a strand of loose hair out of her face as she pops her head out of the cabinet. “No, but that means nothing. They could move around behind our backs for all we know.”
Rubber squeaks against the hardwood as hurried footsteps sound from the hall. “Found them!” Dax’s rosy cheeks expand and contract as he leans against the counter to catch his breath. “They were in the bathroom for some reason. Do you need me for anything else, or can I get back to the grill?”
A smile takes over my face as he relinquishes the bag of paper plates into my custody. “Thank you! I have no idea how they ended up in there.” The plastic stretches under my fingersas I move through the kitchen. “You can go on out. Kam and the twins should be here any minute.”
A wave of voices flows through the open door before finally disappearing into a distant hum as Dax closes the backdoor behind him.
A satisfying crunch comes from Ellie as she pops a chip in her mouth. “Do you think he realizes the guys volunteered him to help with the search just so they could get him away from the grill?”
I watch through the kitchen window as Dax comes to a stop next to Mace and Wyatt. “I doubt it.”
Blurs of various colors run by the window as Jasper and Posey’s friends play with a ball they found behind one of the flowerpots.
Parents twice my age occupy the tables the guys set up around the yard this morning. The vast age difference just further adds to the feeling of being an imposter in my own home.
Their judgmental eyes roam around the yard that should have two other people in it. Two very important people.
Ellie’s voice pulls me from thoughts of what could have been. “Are you expecting anyone else?”
I clear my throat as I unwrap the plates and set them at the front of the line for dinner. “Just my grandparents, I think. There was one kid in their class who got the stomach flu. Thankfully, the parents have enough sense to not bring them, anyway.”
Her eyebrows raise, and she pauses with a chip halfway to her mouth. “That’s a thing? Parents will bring kids knowing they’re sick?”
I nod my head as I stand back to look at everything laid out on the counter. “Oh, yeah. Isn’t that stupid?”
